Herbalife Ltd., while reporting strong first quarter earnings and increased guidance, also said its president and chief operating officer resigned after it was found that his resume had been padded.

Herbalife said Gregory Probert resigned Wednesday after admitting he had exaggerated his academic background. Probert had enrolled in the Masters of Business Administration program at California State University, Los Angeles, but never obtained the degree.

Meanwhile, Herbalife reported first quarter net income of $62.4 million (93 cents per share), a 51 percent improvement from $41.2 million (55 cents) in the same period a year earlier. The results bested Wall Street’s expectations of 80 cents per share, according to Thomson Financial.

Sales for the Los Angeles-based supplement retailer climbed 19 percent to $604 million helped by all of the company’s regions reported growth during the quarter, Herbalife said.

Sales were pushed up by strong growth in South America, helped by triple-digit sales growth in Venezuela, Bolivia and Peru. Sales in China were also strong as domestic sales grew nearly 14 percent, the company said.

The company also upped its guidance for the second quarter, saying it will likely earn 89 cents to 92 cents per share, ahead of analysts’ consensus of 83 cents per share.

Herbalife also boosted its 2008 profit guidance to between $3.52 and $3.57 per share ahead of its original prediction of between $3.25 and $3.30 per share. Analysts anticipate profit of $3.32 per share for the year.

Shares in Herbalife were down 5.1 percent to $41.54 in early trading Thursday.