GREENWICH, Conn., April 4, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Blyth, Inc. (NYSE:BTH), a leading designer and marketer of home fragrance products, home decor products and household convenience items, today updated its outlook for fiscal year 2008, in which management expects Earnings Per Share of $1.07 to $1.17. This estimate reflects previously-announced anticipated restructuring charges of approximately $0.10 - $0.15 per share related to the North American Wholesale mass channel home fragrance business. Excluding the anticipated restructuring and impairment charges, earnings per share are expected to be $1.22 to $1.27, representing a fiscal year 2008 increase of 8% over fiscal year 2007 on a comparable basis, as described below.
Blyth reported a fiscal year 2007 loss of $2.58 per share. Excluding restructuring charges, goodwill impairment charges, the loss from discontinued operations of Blyth's European wholesale businesses and the note receivable recovery, fiscal year 2007 earnings per share would have been $1.15, which compares to the fiscal year 2008 non-GAAP estimate of $1.22 to $1.27 per share. Investors may refer to Blyth's fourth quarter and full fiscal year 2007 earnings release, published this morning, for details of the fiscal 2007 non-GAAP charges.
Management also noted that, in fiscal year 2007, the Company recorded a non-cash tax expense equivalent to $0.31 per share on unremitted foreign earnings of subsidiaries resulting from the disposition of the European Wholesale businesses and the resulting modification of earnings considered to be permanently reinvested outside of the United States. The non-cash tax expense for fiscal year 2008 is projected to be $0.32 per share. This non-cash expense may or may not continue in future years depending on actions that the Company may undertake in Europe.
Management also noted that it expects continued cash flow from operations in excess of $85 million for fiscal year 2008. Capital expenditures of approximately $13 million are anticipated.
Robert B. Goergen, Blyth's Chairman of the Board and CEO, commented, "The significant restructuring that Blyth undertook in fiscal year 2007 is expected to have an immediate and positive impact on profitability. Moreover, the underlying improvement in ongoing operations experienced in fiscal year 2007 is expected to continue in fiscal 2008."
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), 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) 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, 2006.