GREENWICH, Conn., Oct. 30, 2006 (PRIMEZONE) -- Blyth, Inc. (NYSE:BTH), a leader in home decor and home fragrance products, today announced the appointment of JP Trottier to President, PartyLite U.S. and Vice President, North America. Mr. Trottier joined Blyth in 2005 as President, PartyLite Canada and has been instrumental in growing sales in that market. PartyLite, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Blyth, Inc., is a direct sales company for candles and accessories with more than 44,000 independent sales consultants in 11 countries across North America, Europe and Australia.
Mr. Trottier will continue to report to Jim Mannion -- President, PartyLite North America, who assumes additional responsibility for Global Marketing. Mr. Mannion joined Blyth in 2000 as Vice President, Product Marketing and Research and assumed responsibility for PartyLite U.S. the following year and PartyLite Canada in 2004.
Frank P. Mineo, Senior Vice President of Blyth and President, Direct Selling Group, commented on the management developments, saying, "JP has been pivotal in energizing PartyLite's Canadian market and producing solid results for our Field sales people and other key stakeholders. Many of the programs that he and his team implemented in Canada are being launched in the U.S."
Mr. Mineo continued, "Jim Mannion assumes Global Marketing responsibility and will evolve the mission of this group to encompass a broader view of PartyLite that is unlimited by geographic segmentation and focused on brand, web, product and program development."
Mr. Trottier joined PartyLite with 25 years of direct sales experience with Avon and Princess House. He held a wide range of positions in diverse areas of the business including sales, marketing, operations, human resources and general management. Prior to joining PartyLite in 2000, Mr. Mannion spent 20 years in direct sales with organizations including The Longaberger Company and Avon Products.
Blyth, Inc., headquartered in Greenwich, CT, U.S.A., 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(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) 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.