GREENWICH, Conn., Sept. 13, 2006 (PRIMEZONE) -- Blyth, Inc. (NYSE:BTH), a leader in home decor and home fragrance products, today announced that it has realigned its operating management into two groups to support a new corporate structure following the divestiture of most of the Company's European Wholesale businesses earlier this year.
Robert B. Goergen, Blyth's Chairman of the Board and CEO said, "The realignment of Blyth's businesses into two groups reflects the reduced complexity of our operations and increased focus on our core distribution channels following our European divestitures."
The Company has historically operated in three segments: Direct Selling, Wholesale and Catalog & Internet. The Direct Selling segment, led by Frank P. Mineo, Senior Vice President of Blyth and President, Direct Selling segment, continues in its current form. PartyLite, a direct seller of platinum quality candles and accessories with operations in 11 countries, is the primary business in this segment.
The Wholesale segment historically was comprised of North American and European businesses marketing candles, seasonal and home decor. Bruce G. Crain, Senior Vice President of Blyth and President, Wholesale Group, is leaving the Company following the successful divestiture of the European Wholesale businesses.
The newly created Multichannel Group is comprised of Blyth's current Catalog & Internet and North American Wholesale segment businesses. Rob Goergen, Vice President of Blyth and President, Catalog & Internet Group, has been named President, Multichannel Group. This group consists of the two Catalog & Internet business units, Miles Kimball Company and Boca Java, and the Wholesale business units Blyth HomeScents International - North America, CBK, Midwest and Sterno.
Multichannel Group President Rob Goergen commented, "I am delighted to lead Blyth's Multichannel Group and look forward to continued collaboration with our first-rate management teams and the senior leadership of Blyth."
Mr. Goergen continued, "Bruce Crain has been a valued partner for nearly 10 years. I know I speak for Blyth's Board of Directors, senior management and thousands of employees who have benefited from Bruce's leadership in thanking him for his years of service and wishing him much success in the future."
Blyth, Inc., headquartered in Greenwich, CT, USA, is a Home Expressions company competing primarily in the home fragrance, home decor, seasonal decorations and gift industry. The Company designs, markets and distributes an extensive array of candles, home fragrance products, decorative accessories, seasonal decorations and household convenience items, as well as tabletop lighting and chafing fuel for the Away From Home or foodservice trade. Blyth manufactures most of its candles 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(r), Carolina(r), CBK(r) and Seasons of Cannon Falls(r) brands, to retailers in the mass retail channel under the Florasense(r), Ambria(r), FilterMate(r) and Sterno(r) 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, 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) and Colonial(r) brands.
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, 2006.