GREENWICH, Conn., May 31, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Blyth, Inc. (NYSE:BTH), a leading multi-channel designer and marketer of home fragrance products, home decor products and household convenience items, today updated its outlook for fiscal year 2008. Management's previous guidance of $1.07 to $1.17 anticipated that the Company's North American mass channel home fragrance business, Blyth HomeScents International (BHI), would be an ongoing operation. As this business was sold at the end of the first quarter, the Company's updated guidance reflects the sale and associated restructuring and impairment charges that are anticipated in the remainder of fiscal year 2008.
Fiscal year 2008 Earnings Per Share are now expected to range from $1.02 - $1.12 versus previous guidance of $1.07 - $1.17 per share. This estimate reflects charges of approximately $0.25 - $0.30 per share related to the sale of BHI and the anticipated restructuring of the remaining North American Wholesale home fragrance operations, whereas prior guidance anticipated BHI being a continuing operation and having related restructuring charges of approximately $0.10 - $0.15 per share.
Excluding the anticipated restructuring and impairment charges of approximately $0.25 - $0.30 per share this year and management's previous expectations of $0.10 - $0.15 per share last year, earnings per share are expected to be $1.32 - $1.37 versus previous guidance of $1.22 - $1.27. This increase is driven by gross margin improvements in the direct-to-consumer segments, the sale of BHI and a lower tax rate. The following paragraph details a comparison of non-GAAP earnings per share for 2008 versus 2007.
Blyth reported a fiscal year 2007 loss of $2.58 per share. As described in last year's fourth quarter earnings release, non-GAAP fiscal year 2007 earnings per share would have been $1.15 per share excluding restructuring charges, goodwill impairment charges, a loss from discontinued operations of Blyth's European wholesale businesses and a note receivable recovery. Further, in consideration of the recent divestiture of BHI, the elimination from fiscal year 2007 of BHI's $0.9 million after tax loss, or $0.02 per share, would have resulted in fiscal year 2007 earnings per share of $1.16. Thus, Blyth's fiscal year 2008 non-GAAP estimate of $1.32 -$1.37 per share compares to fiscal year 2007 non-GAAP earnings per share of $1.16 and represents an increase of 14% - 18%.
Management has not changed its expectations for cash flow from operations in excess of $85 million for fiscal year 2008. Capital expenditures of approximately $13 million are also anticipated.
Robert B. Goergen, Blyth's Chairman of the Board and CEO, commented, "The significant restructuring that Blyth undertook in fiscal year 2007 is reflected in our improved first quarter results. While we anticipate increased restructuring charges following the divestiture of BHI, we have increased our fiscal year 2008 guidance on a normalized basis primarily due to gross margin improvement in PartyLite and the Miles Kimball Company, as well as the absence of operating losses from BHI."
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, 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(r) and Two Sisters Gourmet(tm) brands, to retailers in the premium and specialty retail channels under the Colonial Candle(tm), CBK(r) and Seasons of Cannon Falls(r) brands, to retailers in the mass retail channel under the Sterno(r) brand, to consumers in the catalog and Internet channel under the Miles Kimball(r), Exposures(r), Walter Drake(r), The Home Marketplace(r), Easy Comforts(tm) and Boca Java(tm) brands, and to the Foodservice industry under the Sterno(r), Ambria(r) and HandyFuel(r) brands. In Europe, Blyth's products are also sold under the PartyLite(r) brand.
Blyth, Inc. may be found on the Internet at 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), risks associated with legislation proposed by the Federal Trade Commission 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, 2007.