Blyth, Inc. Comments on Fiscal Year 2010 Outlook
December 07 2009 - 8:05AM
PR Newswire (US)
GREENWICH, Conn., Dec. 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Blyth, Inc.
(NYSE: BTH), a leading designer and marketer of home fragrance and
home decor products, today updated its outlook for the fiscal year
ending January 31, 2010. Earnings Per Share on a normalized,
non-GAAP basis are expected to be in the range of $2.40 to $2.60
for fiscal year 2010 versus prior guidance of $3.00 to $3.30.
Robert B. Goergen, Blyth's Chairman of the Board and Chief
Executive Officer, commented, "While we expect continued strong
results from PartyLite International, the North American
macroeconomic environment continues to be very challenging for all
our business units. Our updated guidance for fiscal year 2010
reflects lower sales and profits than originally anticipated due in
part to reduced consumer discretionary spending in North America,
as well as an increase in promotional and marketing activity across
all Blyth's businesses to drive sales." Mr. Goergen added, "We
continue to experience good results from our working capital
management programs and, as a result, our cash flow estimates
remain unchanged. We successfully self-funded our capital
requirements during the year, have no net debt and are committed to
maintaining our healthy balance sheet." Reported earnings per share
are anticipated to be $0.54 to $0.74 per share and reflect a second
quarter non-cash after tax goodwill and other intangibles
impairment charge of $1.71 per share arising from a revaluation of
goodwill associated with the Company's investment in ViSalus
Sciences. The reported earnings per share estimate also reflects
total expected restructuring charges of $0.15 per share related to
the merger of Blyth's wholesale seasonal and home decor businesses
into a new company, Midwest-CBK. Management also confirmed its
prior expectations for cash flow from operations to be in excess of
$60 million for fiscal year 2010. Capital spending of approximately
$6 million is also expected for fiscal year 2010. Management will
conduct an informal Question and Answer session via dial-in call on
December 7th at 2:00 pm EST. The date, time and dial-in information
of future calls will be available in the "Investor Relations"
section of the Company's website, http://www.blyth.com/, no later
than one week prior to the next scheduled session. Management will
not present prepared remarks during such calls and will cover no
material, non-public information. Blyth, Inc., headquartered in
Greenwich, CT, USA, is a Home Expressions company that markets an
extensive array of home fragrance products, decorative accessories,
seasonal decorations and household convenience items. The Company
sells its products through multiple channels of distribution,
including the home party plan method of direct selling and
one-on-one direct selling, as well as through the wholesale and
catalog/Internet channels. Blyth also markets tabletop lighting and
chafing fuel for the Away From Home or foodservice trade. The
Company manufactures most of its candles and chafing fuel and
sources nearly all of its other products. Its products are sold
direct to the consumer under the PartyLite®, Two Sisters Gourmet®
by PartyLite and ViSalus Sciences® brands, to retailers in the
premium and specialty retail channels under the Colonial Candle®,
CBK® and Seasons of Cannon Falls® brands, to retailers in the mass
retail channel under the Sterno® brand, to consumers in the
catalog/Internet channel under the As We Change®, Miles Kimball®,
Exposures®, Walter Drake®, The Home Marketplace®, Easy Comforts®
and Boca Java® brands, and to the Foodservice industry under the
Sterno®, Ambria® and HandyFuel® brands. In Europe, Blyth's products
are also sold under the PartyLite brand. Blyth, Inc. may be found
on the Internet at http://www.blyth.com/. This press release
contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking
statements include statements concerning plans, objectives, goals,
strategies, future events or performance and underlying assumptions
and other statements that are other than statements of historical
facts. Actual results could differ materially due to various
factors, including the slowing of the United States or European
economies or retail environments, the risk that we will be unable
to maintain our historic growth rate, our ability to respond
appropriately to changes in product demand, the risk that we will
be unable to integrate the businesses that we acquire into our
existing operations, the risks (including foreign currency
fluctuations, economic and political instability, transportation
delays, difficulty in maintaining quality control, trade and
foreign tax laws and others) associated with international sales
and foreign sourced products, risks associated with our ability to
recruit new independent sales consultants, our dependence on key
corporate management personnel, risks associated with the sourcing
of raw materials for our products, competition in terms of price
and new product introductions, risks associated with our
information technology systems (including, susceptibility to
outages due to fire, floods, power loss, telecommunications
failures, computer viruses, break-ins and similar events) and other
factors described in this press release and in the Company's Annual
Report on Form 10-K for the year ended January 31, 2009.
DATASOURCE: Blyth, Inc. CONTACT: Robert H. Barghaus, Chief
Financial Officer, +1-203-661-1926 ext. 6668, or Tyler P.
Schuessler, Vice President, Organizational Development, &
Investor Relations, +1-203-661-1926, ext. 6643 Web Site:
http://www.blyth.com/
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