GREENWICH, Conn., May 10, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- Blyth, Inc. (NYSE:BTH), a leader in home decor and home fragrance products, today announced that the Compensation Committee of its Board of Directors approved 2004 grants under the 2003 Long-Term Incentive Compensation Program for the Company's senior business unit leaders and corporate executives. The 2003 Plan was approved by shareholders at Blyth's June 2003 Annual Meeting. The program, which focuses on recognizing and rewarding long-term earnings growth, is intended to align further management's compensation with shareholder interests.
Awards will be in the form of time-vested restricted stock units (RSUs) and performance-based cash awards based on multi-year business unit performance. Dividend equivalents will be paid on the RSUs, and minimum stock retention requirements will apply at vesting. RSU awards, which will vest in years 4 and 5, will be granted annually, with a 3-year performance cycle for cash awards commencing each year. Program costs are not expected to exceed the equivalent costs of expensing options granted in Blyth's previous program.
Commenting on the new compensation program, Robert B. Goergen, Blyth's Chairman of the Board and CEO, said, "Blyth's new long-term incentive compensation program is intended to motivate and reward a targeted group of about 50 senior managers who have the greatest ability to impact our financial results. Further, as we evaluate the program's effectiveness, we would expect the number of managers participating to increase over time. Encouraging stock ownership and recognizing the longer-term success of leaders within Blyth will align the interests of our employees and shareholders more effectively than past long-term compensation programs. Earnings growth benchmarks, a minimum required return on net assets employed and positive cash flow metrics will all be factors in the consideration of the cash awards."
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) brand, to retailers in the premium and specialty retail channels under the Colonial Candle of Cape Cod(r), Colonial at HOME(r), Kate's(tm), Carolina(r), CBK(r), Seasons of Cannon Falls(tm) and Holiday365(tm) 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) and Directions . . . the path to better health(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(r), Colonial(r), Gies(r), Liljeholmens(r), Ambria(r), Carolina(r) and Kaemingk(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 economy as a whole and the weakness of the retail environment, the effects of our restructuring, the risk that we will be unable to maintain the Company's historic growth rate, the Company's ability to respond appropriately to changes in product demand, 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, in the Company's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended October 31, 2003 and in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended January 31, 2004.