The web carries Weight Watchers’ second quarter sales growth

The Internet carried second quarter sales growth for Weight Watchers International Inc.

 For the second quarter Weight Watchers, No. 79 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide, reported:

• $60.6 million in web sales, a 21% increase compared with $50.2 million a year earlier. Weight Watchers does not break out U.S. web sales vs. international.
• $376.7 million in total sales, up 1.1% from $372.5 million a year earlier.
• North America sales, including meeting fees and in-meeting product sales, were $180.4 million, flat compared with $180.3 million in 2009.
• International sales, including meeting fees and in-meeting product sales, were $102.1 million, down by 3.3% from $105.6 million.
• Net income of $56.3 million, down 4.3% compared with $58.8 million a year earlier.

Internet Retailer calculates the web accounted for 16.1% of total sales for Q2 compared with 13.5% in the prior year.

“The second quarter 2010 results of the Weight Watchers business improved significantly after a disappointing first quarter,” says David Kirchhoff, president and CEO. “In the second quarter, we saw acceleration of revenue growth in our WeightWatchers.com business and substantial stabilization of our North American meeting business as a result of strong spring marketing campaigns. This is all particularly gratifying as most of our planned growth initiatives will not provide their positive contribution until we move into fiscal 2011.”

For the first six months Weight Watchers reported:

• Web sales of $115.9 million, up by 17.4% from $98.7 a year earlier. Weight Watchers does not break out U.S. web sales vs. international.
• Total sales of $764.7 million, a 0.2% increase $763.1 million.
• North America sales, including meeting fees and in-meeting product sales, were $362.9 million, down by 3.9% from $377.8 million in 2009.
• International sales, including meeting fees and in-meeting product sales, were $217.8 million, up by 1.8% from $213.9 million.
• Net income of $100.9 million, down 4.9% from $106.1 million.

Internet Retailer calculates the web accounted for 15.2% of total sales in the first half compared with 12.9% in the first half of 2009.

For the third quarter, Weight Watchers expects continued strong growth in its global WeightWatchers.com business. The company says its technology team is working on unnamed product releases for Weight Watchers’ U.S. and international web sites.