GREENWICH, Conn., Dec. 5, 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 increased its outlook for fiscal year 2008. Management announced fiscal year 2008 guidance of earnings of $1.07 - $1.17 per share, or $1.37 - $1.42 per share excluding restructuring and impairment charges. The Company attributes the adjustment in its guidance to a projected lower effective tax rate and to the 1.6 million shares that were repurchased during the third quarter.
Commenting on the Company's full year projections, Robert B. Goergen, Blyth's Chairman of the Board and CEO, said, "We've made gross margin improvements over last year that we expect will help offset an ongoing soft sales environment for discretionary consumer products, as well as higher commodity costs during the fourth quarter. For the full year, we remain on track to deliver solid profitability improvements in spite of the aforementioned factors."
The $1.07 - $1.17 per share full year estimate reflects charges and losses of approximately $0.25 - $0.30 per share primarily related to the first quarter sale of the Company's North American mass channel candle business, Blyth HomeScents International (BHI), and the anticipated restructuring and operating losses of the remaining North American Wholesale home fragrance operations, of which Blyth has recorded $0.19 during the first nine months of fiscal 2008. Excluding the total anticipated restructuring and impairment charges, and including the effect of a tax provision related to unremitted foreign earnings, earnings per share are expected to be $1.37 - $1.42.
Management also increased its expectations for cash flow from operations to be in excess of $90 million for fiscal year 2008 versus prior guidance of cash flow from operations in excess of $85 million. Capital expenditures of approximately $12 million are also anticipated.
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 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, 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, 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 regulations 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.