On March 20, 2008, Standard&Poor's Ratings Services revised its outlook on New York City-based commercial weight-loss service provider Weight Watchers International Inc. (WWI) to stable from negative. At the same time, Standard&Poor's affirmed its ratings on the company, including its 'BB' corporate credit rating. WWI had about $1.65 billion of reported debt outstanding as of Dec. 29, 2007. The outlook revision is based on meaningful debt repayment since the company's debt-financed $1 billion January 2007 modified Dutch auction share repurchase that weakened WWI's credit measures, as well as sustained operating performance in fiscal 2007. Credit protection measures have improved in line with our expectation of achieving leverage close to 3.5x by the end of 2007. The
