GNC Holdings, whose revenue has recently been under pressure, delivered another mildly disappointing earnings report for the second quarter of 2015.

This quarter, GNC reported consolidated revenue of $678.5 million, an increase of 0.5 per cent when compared 2014’s second quarter figure of $675.2 million. Revenue also increased in the company’s franchise segment by 7.5 per cent, but decreased in the retail and manufacturing segments by 0.3 and 5.6 per cent.

The company also reported a net income of $67.4 million for 2015’s second quarter, a decrease of 3.6 per cent when compared with the net income of $69.9 million for the same time last year. Additionally, diluted earnings per share for this segment were $0.79, an increase of 2.6 per cent as compared to last year’s $0.77 per share.

GNC CEO Michael Archbold notes that manufacturing revenue, which was off 5.6 per cent year-over-year, was impacted by lower sales to major customers such as Rite-Aid, Drugstore.com, PetSmart and Sam’s Club.

Archbold also told analysts that part of the revenue decline in the same-store retail segment—where revenue was off 0.4 per cent year-over-year—had to do with terminating the promotion-heavy strategy that was enacted by previous CEO Joe Fortunato.

Fortunato, who left the company in 2014, focused his regime as CEO on an exceedingly promotional culture that sought to generate major retail traffic; however, this did little to improve profitability. Moving forward into the third quarter, Archbold plans to make GNC’s marketing schemes more targeted in order to “neutralize” their past impact on earnings.

On July 31, Rona Ambrose, minister of health, announced changes for certain homeopathic products that fall under the Natural Health Product Regulations (NHPR), specifically nosode products as well as homeopathic cough, cold and flu products for children 12 and under. According to Ambrose, the government of Canada believes that current package labelling for these products “may not be adequate for Canadians to make informed choices.”

By January 2016, all nosode product license holders are requested to include a new statement on nosode labels: “This product is neither a vaccine nor an alternative to vaccination. This product has not been proven to prevent infection. Health Canada does not recommend its use in children and advises that your child receive all routine vaccinations.”

On August 6, the Canadian Homeopathic Pharmaceutical Association (CHPA) issued a statement on its official website in response to new labelling requirements.

“CHPA was not consulted in the development of this new labelling statement and has expressed concerns to Health Canada about the lack of consultation and the feasibility and timing of implementation. CHPA will encourage Health Canada to conduct the appropriate level and process of consultation before final implementation of this important policy decision.”

On July 31, Rona Ambrose, minister of health, announced changes for certain homeopathic products that fall under the Natural Health Product Regulations (NHPR), specifically nosode products as well as homeopathic cough, cold and flu products for children 12 and under. According to Ambrose, the government of Canada believes that current package labelling for these products “may not be adequate for Canadians to make informed choices.”

On August 6, the Canadian Homeopathic Pharmaceutical Association (CHPA) issued a response on its website, saying that removal of health claims and indications for use for children of 12 years of age and under from homeopathic medicines for cough, cold and flu will be a very serious mistake.

The CHPA is unaware of any evidence of health risk “to substantiate the new labelling requirements for these products,” as “homeopathic medicines have decades of history of safe use in Canada with virtually no history of adverse events associated with their administration to children.” Also, the association says there is no evidence of consumer concerns about how homeopathic medicines are currently labelled.

“CHPA also objects to Health Canada having released this policy decision without any prior consultations with CHPA, health care practitioner associations, consumer associations and other stakeholder organizations whose views are normally sought in a transparent consultation process. There are alternatives to this policy decision to enhance consumer understanding and informed choice and Health Canada is obligated under the government of Canada’s Federal Regulatory Policy to take these into consideration in a transparent public consultation process.”