Moody's ups General Nutrition

Moody's Investors Service said it upgraded General Nutrition Centers, Inc.'s corporate family and probability of default ratings to B1 from B2 and its $980 million secured bank loan rating to Ba3 from B1.

GNC has an SGL-2 speculative grade liquidity rating and a stable outlook.

Moody's said the upgrade of GNC's corporate family rating to B1 from B2 reflects its ongoing positive same-store sales growth and earnings improvement. For the nine months ending Sep. 30, comparable-store sales grew 9.5% despite the overall fragile U.S. economy during that period.

"Moody's believes that the continued popularity in endurance sports and the aging of the U.S. population are the key drivers of the revenue improvement. Given our view that these trends are likely to continue, the new level of earnings and improved leverage and coverage appear to be sustainable," Maggie Taylor, vice president and senior credit officer, said in a news release.

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