Quarterly report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d)

Significant Accounting Policies (Policies)

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Significant Accounting Policies (Policies)
9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2013
Derivative Instruments And Hedging Activities Disclosure [Abstract]  
Basis of Presentation

Basis of Presentation

The unaudited interim financial information of the Company has been prepared in accordance with Article 10 of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s, or the SEC, Regulation S-X. Accordingly, as permitted by Article 10 of the SEC’s Regulation S-X, it does not include all of the information required by generally accepted accounting principles in the U.S., or U.S. GAAP, for complete financial statements. The condensed consolidated balance sheet at December 31, 2012 was derived from the audited financial statements at that date included in Amendment No.1 to the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K/A for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2012, or the 10-K Amendment, which reflects the revisions discussed below, and does not include all the disclosures required by U.S. GAAP, as permitted by Article 10 of the SEC’s Regulation S-X. The Company’s unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements as of September 30, 2013, and for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2013 and 2012, include Herbalife and all of its direct and indirect subsidiaries. In the opinion of management, the accompanying financial information contains all adjustments, consisting of normal recurring adjustments, necessary to present fairly the Company’s unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements as of September 30, 2013, and for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2013 and 2012. These unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2012, as amended by the 10-K Amendment, or the 2012 10-K. Operating results for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2013, are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for the year ending December 31, 2013.

New Accounting Pronouncements

New Accounting Pronouncements

In February 2013, the Financial Accounting Standards Board, or FASB, issued Accounting Standards Update, or ASU, No. 2013-04, Liabilities (Topic 405): Obligations Resulting from Joint and Several Liability Arrangements for which the Total Amount of the Obligation Is Fixed at the Reporting Date (a consensus of the FASB Emerging Issues Task Force). This ASU addresses the recognition, measurement, and disclosure of certain obligations resulting from joint and several arrangements including debt arrangements, other contractual obligations, and settled litigation and judicial rulings. The ASU is effective for public entities for fiscal years, and interim periods within those years, beginning after December 15, 2013. The Company is evaluating the potential impact of this adoption on its consolidated financial statements.

In March 2013, the FASB issued ASU No. 2013-05, Foreign Currency Matters (Topic 830): Parent’s Accounting for the Cumulative Translation Adjustment upon Derecognition of Certain Subsidiaries or Groups of Assets within a Foreign Entity or of an Investment in a Foreign Entity (a consensus of the FASB Emerging Issues Task Force). This ASU addresses the accounting for the cumulative translation adjustment when a parent either sells a part or all of its investment in a foreign entity or no longer holds a controlling financial interest in a subsidiary or group of assets that is a nonprofit activity or a business within a foreign entity. This ASU is effective prospectively for fiscal years, and interim periods within those years, beginning after December 15, 2013. The Company is evaluating the potential impact of this adoption on its consolidated financial statements.

In July 2013, the FASB issued ASU No. 2013-11, Income Taxes (Topic 740): Presentation of an Unrecognized Tax Benefit When a Net Operating Loss Carryforward, a Similar Tax Loss, or a Tax Credit Carryforward Exists (a consensus of the Emerging Issues Task Force). This ASU addresses when unrecognized tax benefits should be presented as reductions to deferred tax assets for net operating loss carryforwards in the financial statements. This ASU is effective prospectively for fiscal years, and interim periods within those years, beginning after December 15, 2013. Early adoption and retrospective application is permitted. The Company is evaluating the potential impact of this adoption on its consolidated financial statements.

Revision of Prior Period Financial Statements

Revision of Prior Period Financial Statements

During the quarter ended June 30, 2013, in connection with preparing the interim financial information presented in the Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for that period, prior period errors were identified which affected the interim period ended June 30, 2013, and the annual periods ended December 31, 2012, 2011 and 2010, including the applicable interim periods therein. These income tax errors primarily relate to income tax expenses calculated on intercompany inventory transactions and the Company’s application of ASC 740-10-25-3(e) and ASC 810-10-45-8. As a result of its misapplication of these accounting standards, the Company’s income tax expenses and net income within its consolidated statement of income were misstated. There were also certain amounts within the Company’s other consolidated financial statements that were misstated. The Company has reflected the correction of these identified prior period errors in the periods in which they originated.

In evaluating whether the Company’s previously issued consolidated financial statements were materially misstated, the Company considered the guidance in ASC Topic 250, Accounting Changes and Error Corrections, ASC Topic 250-10-S99-1, Assessing Materiality, and ASC Topic 250-10-S99-2, Considering the Effects of Prior Year Misstatements when Quantifying Misstatements in Current Year Financial Statements. The Company concluded that these errors were not material, individually or in the aggregate, to any of the prior reporting periods, and therefore, amendments of previously filed reports were not required. If the entire correction was recorded in the second quarter of 2013, it was expected that the cumulative amount would not be material for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2013. As such, this cumulative amount could have been recorded as an out of period adjustment during the second quarter of 2013. However, because the Company was amending its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2012 due to its predecessor auditors withdrawing their opinions, was amending its Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarters ended March 31, 2013 and June 30, 2013, and is amending its original Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended September 30, 2013 pursuant to this Amendment, which Form 10-Qs were deficient due to the absence of a SAS 100 review, the Company decided to revise its applicable prior period financial statements in the 10-K Amendment and the Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended March 31, 2013 so that the financial statements included therein do not include these income tax errors. The Company believes this approach is more beneficial to investors due to the Company’s unusual facts and circumstances surrounding its predecessor auditors resigning and withdrawing their audit opinions and the Company being required to file amendments to its Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q referenced above. As such, the revisions for these corrections are reflected herein and will be reflected in the financial information of the applicable prior periods and will be reflected in future filings containing such financial information.

Venezuela

Venezuela

Currency restrictions enacted by the Venezuelan government have become more restrictive and have impacted the ability of the Company’s subsidiary in Venezuela, Herbalife Venezuela, to timely obtain U.S. dollars in exchange for Venezuelan Bolivars, or Bolivars, at the official foreign exchange rate from the Venezuelan government and its foreign exchange commission, CADIVI. The application and approval process continue to be delayed and the Company’s ability to timely obtain U.S. dollars at the official exchange rate remains uncertain. In recent instances, the Company has been unsuccessful in obtaining U.S. dollars at the official rate and it remains uncertain whether the Company’s current pending applications and future anticipated applications will be approved.

In February 2013, the Venezuela government announced that it devalued its Bolivar currency and will eliminate the SITME regulated system. The SITME 5.3 Bolivars per U.S. dollar rate was eliminated and the CADIVI rate has been devalued from 4.3 Bolivars to 6.3 Bolivars per U.S. dollar. This new CADIVI rate is approximately 16% less favorable than the previously published 5.3 SITME rate. The Company recognized approximately $15.1 million of net foreign exchange losses within its condensed consolidated statement of income during the first quarter of 2013, as a result of remeasuring the Company’s Bolivar denominated monetary assets and liabilities at this new CADIVI rate of 6.3 Bolivars per U.S. dollar. The majority of these foreign exchange losses related to the approximately $16.9 million devaluation of Herbalife Venezuela’s Bolivar denominated cash and cash equivalents. In March 2013, the Venezuelan government also announced they will introduce an additional complimentary exchange mechanism known as SICAD. It is currently unknown whether Herbalife Venezuela will be able to access this new exchange mechanism and the Company is currently assessing and monitoring the restrictions and exchange rates relating to this alternative mechanism.

During the nine months ended September 30, 2013, the Company also recognized $0.7 million of foreign exchange losses as a result of exchanging Bolivars for U.S. dollars using alternative legal exchange mechanisms that were approximately 75% less favorable than the new CADIVI rate. During the nine months ended September 30, 2013, the Company exchanged 5.6 million Bolivars for $0.2 million U.S. dollars using these alternative legal exchange mechanisms. The Company did not exchange Bolivars for U.S. dollars using these alternative legal exchange mechanisms during the three months ended June 30, 2013 or the three months ended September 30, 2013. As of September 30, 2013, Herbalife Venezuela’s net monetary assets and liabilities denominated in Bolivars were approximately $146.7 million, and included approximately $150.1 million in Bolivar denominated cash and cash equivalents. These Bolivar denominated assets and liabilities were remeasured at the CADIVI rate. The Company remeasures its Bolivars at the official published CADIVI rate given the limited availability of alternative exchange mechanisms and the uncertainty in the effective exchange rate for alternative exchange mechanisms. These remeasured amounts, including cash and cash equivalents, being reported on the Company’s condensed consolidated balance sheet using the published CADIVI rate may not accurately represent the amount of U.S. dollars that the Company could ultimately realize. While the Company continues to monitor the exchange mechanisms and restrictions under CADIVI, and assess and monitor the current economic and political environment in Venezuela, there is no assurance that the Company will be able to exchange Bolivars into U.S. dollars on a timely basis. Herbalife Venezuela’s net sales represented approximately 5% and 3% of the Company’s consolidated net sales for the nine months ended September 30, 2013 and 2012, respectively, and its total assets represented approximately 9% and 7% of the Company’s consolidated total assets as of September 30, 2013 and December 31, 2012, respectively. As of September 30, 2013 and December 31, 2012, the majority of its total assets consisted of Bolivar denominated cash and cash equivalents.

See the Company’s 2012 10-K for further information on Herbalife Venezuela and Venezuela’s highly inflationary economy.

Segment Reporting

The Company is a nutrition company that sells a wide range of weight management products, nutritional supplements and personal care products. The Company’s products are manufactured by third party providers and by the Company in its Changsha, Hunan, China extraction facility, Suzhou, China facility and in its Lake Forest, California facility, and then are sold to independent distributors who consume and sell Herbalife products to retail consumers or other distributors. Revenues reflect sales of products by the Company to its distributors and are categorized based on geographic location.

 

As of September 30, 2013, the Company sold products in 88 countries throughout the world and was organized and managed by geographic regions. The Company aggregates its operating segments, excluding China, into one reporting segment, or the Primary Reporting Segment, as management believes that the Company’s operating segments have similar operating characteristics and similar long term operating performance. In making this determination, management believes that the operating segments are similar in the nature of the products sold, the product acquisition process, the types of customers to whom products are sold, the methods used to distribute the products, and the nature of the regulatory environment. China has been identified as a separate reporting segment as it does not meet the criteria for aggregation.

Derivatives and Hedging Policies

Interest Rate Risk Management

The Company previously engaged in an interest rate hedging strategy for which the hedged transactions were the forecasted interest payments on the Credit Facility. The hedged risk was the variability of forecasted interest rate cash flows, where the hedging strategy involved the purchase of interest rate swaps. These interest rate swaps expired in July 2013 and the Company has not entered into new interest swap arrangements as of September 30, 2013.

During August 2009, the Company entered into four interest rate swap agreements with an effective date of December 31, 2009. The agreements collectively provided for the Company to pay interest for less than a four-year period at a weighted average fixed rate of 2.78% on notional amounts aggregating to $140.0 million while receiving interest for the same period at the one month LIBOR rate on the same notional amounts. As discussed above, these agreements expired in July 2013. These swaps at inception were designated as cash flow hedges against the variability in the LIBOR interest rate on the Company’s term loan under the Prior Credit Facility or against the variability in the LIBOR interest rate on the replacement debt. The Company’s term loan under the Prior Credit Facility was terminated in March 2011 and refinanced with the Credit Facility as discussed further in Note 4, Long-Term Debt. Until their expiration in July 2013, the Company’s swaps were effective and were designated as cash flow hedges against the variability in certain LIBOR interest rate borrowings under the Credit Facility at LIBOR plus 1.50% to 2.50%, fixing the Company’s weighted average effective rate on the notional amounts at 4.28% to 5.28%. There was no hedge ineffectiveness recorded as result of this refinancing event.

 

The Company assesses hedge effectiveness and measures hedge ineffectiveness at least quarterly. During the three and nine months ended September 30, 2013 and 2012, the ineffective portion relating to these hedges was immaterial and the hedges remained effective until their expiration in July 2013 and as of December 31, 2012. Consequently, all changes in the fair value of the derivatives were deferred and recorded in other comprehensive income (loss) until the related forecasted transactions were recognized in the condensed consolidated statements of income. The fair value of the interest rate swap agreements were based on third-party quotes. At December 31, 2012, the Company recorded the interest rate swaps as liabilities at their fair value of $2.0 million. No amount was recorded as of September 30, 2013 because the interest rate swaps had expired.

Foreign Currency Instruments

The Company also designates certain foreign currency derivatives, such as certain foreign currency forward and option contracts, as freestanding derivatives for which hedge accounting does not apply. The changes in the fair market value of these freestanding derivatives are included in selling, general and administrative expenses in the Company’s condensed consolidated statements of income. The Company uses foreign currency forward contracts to hedge foreign-currency-denominated intercompany transactions and to partially mitigate the impact of foreign currency fluctuations. The Company also uses foreign currency option contracts to partially mitigate the impact of foreign currency fluctuations. The fair value of the forward and option contracts are based on third-party quotes. The Company’s foreign currency derivative contracts are generally executed on a monthly basis.

The Company designates as cash-flow hedges those foreign currency forward contracts it enters into to hedge forecasted inventory purchases and intercompany management fees that are subject to foreign currency exposures. Forward contracts are used to hedge forecasted inventory purchases over specific months. Changes in the fair value of these forward contracts, excluding forward points, designated as cash-flow hedges are recorded as a component of accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) within shareholders’ equity, and are recognized in cost of sales in the condensed consolidated statement of income during the period which approximates the time the hedged inventory is sold. The Company also hedges forecasted intercompany management fees over specific months. These contracts allow the Company to sell Euros in exchange for U.S. dollars at specified contract rates. Changes in the fair value of these forward contracts designated as cash flow hedges are recorded as a component of accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) within shareholders’ equity, and are recognized in selling, general and administrative expenses in the condensed consolidated statement of income during the period when the hedged item and underlying transaction affect earnings.

Fair Value Measurement

The Company applies the provisions of FASB ASC Topic 820, Fair Value Measurements and Disclosures, or ASC 820, for its financial and non-financial assets and liabilities. ASC 820 defines fair value as the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date. ASC 820 establishes a fair value hierarchy, which prioritizes the inputs used in measuring fair value into three broad levels as follows:

Level 1 inputs are quoted prices (unadjusted) in active markets for identical assets or liabilities that the reporting entity has the ability to access at the measurement date.

Level 2 inputs include quoted prices for similar assets or liabilities in active markets, quoted prices for identical or similar assets or liabilities in markets that are not active, inputs other than quoted prices that are observable for the asset or liability and inputs that are derived principally from or corroborated by observable market data by correlation or other means.

Level 3 inputs are unobservable inputs for the asset or liability.

The Company measures certain assets and liabilities at fair value as discussed throughout the notes to its consolidated financial statements. Foreign exchange currency contracts and interest rate swaps are valued using standard calculations and models. Foreign exchange currency contracts are valued primarily based on inputs such as observable forward rates, spot rates and foreign currency exchange rates at the reporting period ended date. Interest rate swaps are valued primarily based on inputs such as LIBOR and swap yield curves at the reporting period ended date.