GREENWICH, Conn., Sept. 2, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Blyth, Inc. (NYSE:BTH), a leading designer and marketer of home fragrance and home decor products, today commented on its outlook for fiscal year 2010. Earnings Per Share on a normalized, non-GAAP basis are still expected to be in the range of $3.00 to $3.30 for fiscal year 2010.
Robert B. Goergen, Blyth's Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, commented, "Our full year guidance reflects significant improvement in the performance of our ERP system at the Miles Kimball Company versus prior year, which is expected to result in markedly improved profitability during the seasonally important second half. Moreover, management within our PartyLite U.S. market has continued to close the gap in active independent U.S. sales Consultants during the first half of the year, which should benefit holiday sales. We also expect continued strong results from PartyLite Europe. Finally, we are confident that the proactive cost reductions we have implemented will help stabilize and reverse profitability declines as we anniversary the challenging fourth quarter of 2008."
Reported Earnings per share are anticipated to be $1.14 - $1.44 per share. Blyth's current reported earnings per share includes a second quarter non-cash pre-tax goodwill and other intangibles impairment charge of $16.5 million, equating to $15.3 million after tax, or $1.71 per share arising from a revaluation of goodwill associated with the Company's investment in ViSalus Sciences. Blyth's current reported earnings per share estimate also reflects 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.
The previous guidance reflected an expected non-cash adjustment of $0.10 per share for the accretion of redeemable noncontrolling interest in excess of fair value related to the Company's investment in ViSalus. The Company is no longer obligated to include this adjustment and has not included it in the updated outlook.
Management also increased its expectations for cash flow from operations to be in excess of $60 million for fiscal year 2010 versus prior guidance of cash flow from operations in excess of $50 million. Capital spending of approximately $6 million is also expected for fiscal year 2010.
In lieu of quarterly teleconferences, management conducts informal Question and Answer sessions periodically via dial-in calls, the next of which will take place on Tuesday, September 2nd at 2:00 pm Eastern time. The date, time and dial-in information will be available in the "Investor Relations" section of the Company's website, 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(r), Two Sisters Gourmet(r) by PartyLite and ViSalus Sciences(r) brands, to retailers in the premium and specialty retail channels under the Colonial Candle(r), 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/Internet channel under the As We Change(r), Miles Kimball(r), Exposures(r), Walter Drake(r), The Home Marketplace(r), Easy Comforts(r) and Boca Java(r) 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 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) 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.