During the second quarter we delivered worldwide reported net sales of $1.6 billion, growth of 15% compared to the prior year.
All three of our core product categories grew double-digits, led by the Energy, Sports and Fitness category, which increased 45% compared to the prior year.
All of our regions, except China, experienced net sales growth in the quarter with four of our six regions increasing by more than 20%.
For the third quarter we are guiding reported net sales to be in the range of down 1% to up 5%.
For the full year, we expect net sales growth to be within a range of 8.5% to 12.5% compared to the prior year.
For the full-year 2021, we expect to generate between $875 million and $935 million of adjusted EBITDA, which highlights the ongoing profitability and underpins the cash flow generation of our business.
The North America region grew by 7% in the quarter, primarily driven by continued strong momentum in the US.
However, the two-year stack growth rate of 47% in the US accelerated compared to last quarter's two-year stack.
Over the first half of the year, we have had an increase of over 2,000 Nutrition Club locations in the US, with the total club count now exceeding 11,000.
The Asia Pacific region had another quarter of powerful growth, up 38% compared to the prior year.
The region had notable strength in Vietnam, which grew 60%, Malaysia, which was up 45%, Taiwan, which increased 21% and South Korea, which returned to growth with a 19% increase.
Our Indian business grew 93% this quarter compared to Q2 of 2020.
The EMEA region set a second straight quarterly net sales record with year-over-year growth of 22%.
Strong performances continued to be seen in markets such as Turkey, which was up 63%, Italy, which grew 38%, Belgium, which was up 25%, and Spain, which increased 21% in the quarter.
The United Kingdom delivered 24% growth, which was on top of a challenging comparison of 73% growth experienced in Q2 of 2020.
Although combined new distributor and preferred customer numbers are lower than the peak of Q2 2020, we had significant growth of 56% compared to the more normalized 2019 comparison period.
We have also seen a 27% year-over-year increase in the number of active supervisors, which reflects the continued strength of the EMEA business over the past 18 months and helped drive the record performance.
Mexico grew 23% in the quarter, its first quarter of double-digit growth since 2013.
Additionally, the South and Central American region grew 23% in the quarter.
The region was led by Chile, which grew over 200%, Bolivia, which was up 58%, Guatemala, which increased 57%, and Peru, which was up 20% compared to the prior year.
The preferred customer program is now live in 25 markets around the world.
These markets represent approximately 70% of our total net sales.
Now returning to China, in China net sales declined 16% compared to the second quarter of 2020.
China represented approximately 11% of global net sales and just under 6% of global volume in the second quarter.
Through the first half of the year, approximately 50% of our business was transacted through our recently launched digital platforms.
Second quarter net sales of $1.6 billion represents an increase of 15% on a reported basis compared to the second quarter in 2020.
The growth was broad-based as over 50 of our markets grew by double-digits or more.
We had net sales growth in four of our five largest markets, consisting of the US, which grew 6%, China, which was down 16%, India, up 93%, Mexico, up 23% and Vietnam up 60%.
Currency was a tailwind to net sales in the quarter, representing a benefit of approximately 520 basis points, excluding Venezuela.
Reported gross margin for the second quarter of 79.2% decreased by approximately 60 basis points compared to the prior year period.
Second quarter 2021 reported an adjusted SG&A as a percentage of net sales were 32.6% and 32.9%, respectively.
Excluding China member payments, adjusted SG&A as a percentage of net sales was 26.6%, approximately 30 basis points unfavorable compared to the second quarter of 2020.
For the second quarter, we reported net income of approximately $144.2 million or $1.31 per diluted share.
Adjusted earnings per share of $1.52 was a beat of $0.15 above the top end of our Q2 guidance.
Our expected year-over-year currency benefit for the second quarter should have been approximately $0.10 lower than originally projected, which translates to our actual currency adjusted earnings per share exceeding the top end of our guidance range by $0.17.
This resulted in the largest quarterly adjusted EBITDA result in company history for the second quarter in a row, with adjusted EBITDA of approximately $262 million.
Combined with the prior record in Q1, we have generated over $500 million of adjusted EBITDA during the first half of the year.
For the third quarter, we estimate net sales to be in the range of down 1% to up 5%, which includes an approximate 200 basis points currency tailwind.
The third quarter 2021 represents the most challenging comparison period of the year as we are comping 22% growth in Q3 of 2020.
Looking back over the past four quarters, the two-year stack has range between approximately 19% and 28%.
This quarter's guidance implies a two-year stack of 21% to 27% growth.
Third quarter adjusted diluted earnings per share is expected to be in a range of $1.05 to $1.25.
Adjusted diluted earnings per share includes a projected currency benefit of $0.06 compared to the third quarter of 2020.
This is reflected in our updated net sales guidance of 8.5% to 12.5% growth on a reported basis.
Currency remains a tailwind and we now project an approximate 220 basis point tailwind due to currency for the full year compared to the expected 200 basis points benefit from a quarter ago.
We are updating full-year 2021 guidance for adjusted earnings per share to a range of $4.70 to $5.10.
Despite the reduction to the midpoint of our sales guidance, the midpoint of our adjusted earnings per share range is increasing by approximately $0.05.
For the full year, our guidance includes a projected currency tailwind of approximately $0.15 per diluted share, which is $0.03 higher than the currency benefit included in our prior guidance.
Incrementally, we are initiating adjusted EBITDA guidance for the third quarter and full-year 2021 of $205 million to $235 million and $875 million to $935 million, respectively.
Through the first half of the year, we have generated $287 million of operating cash flow.
However, for the full year we continue to anticipate cash flow will be stronger than the $629 million we generated in 2020.
At the end of the second quarter, we had $838 million of cash on hand.
During the second quarter, we completed approximately $98 million in share repurchases.
Our expectation is that we will complete approximately $200 million of share repurchases over the remainder of the year, resulting in over $900 million of share repurchases for the full-year 2021.
During the quarter, we completed a $600 million offering of 2029 senior notes at a rate of 4.875%.
We used a portion of the net proceeds from the offering to redeem all outstanding $400 million 2026 senior notes that paid a coupon of 7.25%.
Given the favorable rate differential of approximately 240 basis points, we were able to raise nearly $200 million more debt at effectively the same interest payment.
This transaction resulted in a charge of approximately $25 million from the loss on the extinguishment of the 2026 notes.
The borrowing margins of both facilities were reduced by at least 25 basis points in a new pricing grid to 2.25% or lower.
The revolver was increased by approximately $48 million to $330 million with the term loan A increasing by approximately $41 million to $286 million.

Summary:
During the second quarter we delivered worldwide reported net sales of $1.6 billion, growth of 15% compared to the prior year.
For the full year, we expect net sales growth to be within a range of 8.5% to 12.5% compared to the prior year.
Second quarter net sales of $1.6 billion represents an increase of 15% on a reported basis compared to the second quarter in 2020.
For the second quarter, we reported net income of approximately $144.2 million or $1.31 per diluted share.
Adjusted earnings per share of $1.52 was a beat of $0.15 above the top end of our Q2 guidance.
Third quarter adjusted diluted earnings per share is expected to be in a range of $1.05 to $1.25.
This is reflected in our updated net sales guidance of 8.5% to 12.5% growth on a reported basis.
We are updating full-year 2021 guidance for adjusted earnings per share to a range of $4.70 to $5.10.