Blyth, Inc. Announces Sale of North American Wholesale Seasonal & Home Decor Business
GREENWICH, Conn., April 4, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Blyth, Inc. (NYSE: BTH), a leading multi-channel designer and marketer of home fragrance products, home decor products and household convenience items, today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to sell Midwest-CBK, its premium wholesale seasonal decorations and home decor business, to MVP Group International, a manufacturer of private label candles and home fragrance products. The sale is expected to close by the end of May 2011.
Commenting on the sale, Robert B. Goergen, Blyth's Chairman of the Board and CEO, said, "Midwest-CBK is a wholesale channel leader with its Seasons, CBK and Colonial Candle brands. Its management team did an exceptional job guiding the company through a difficult recession, reporting sales and profit growth for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2011."
Mr. Goergen continued, "As Blyth's focus is on the Direct-to-Consumer channels, Midwest-CBK has become less of a strategic fit going forward. Thus, when conversations arose with a strong and growing company interested in increasing its premium channel presence and manufacturing capabilities, we were receptive to a dialog. Moreover, the divestiture of Midwest-CBK supports Blyth's objective to continue to self-fund its seasonal working capital requirements."
Management will provide full year, fiscal 2012 guidance reflecting the Midwest-CBK divestiture with its fourth quarter, fiscal year 2011 earnings announcement, which is expected to be released on April 8, 2011.
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 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®, Two Sisters Gourmet® by PartyLite and ViSalus Sciences® brands, to retailers in the mass retail channel under the Sterno® brand, to consumers in the catalog/Internet channel under the As We Change®, Miles Kimball®, Exposures®, Walter Drake®, The Home Marketplace® and Easy Comforts® brands, and to the Foodservice industry under the Sterno®, Ambria® and HandyFuel® 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 most recently filed Annual Report on Form 10-K.
SOURCE Blyth, Inc.
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