Blyth, Inc. Affirms Normalized Full Year 2011 Earnings Guidance

Published on Thursday, 08 December 2011 08:47 Written by TradersHuddle Staff

GREENWICH, Conn., Dec. 8, 2011 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Blyth, Inc. (NYSE: BTH), a leading multi-channel designer and marketer of home fragrance and home decor, as well as health and wellness products, today commented on its outlook for the 12 months ending December 31, 2011. 

Normalized Earnings Per Share for 2011 is anticipated to be in the range of $3.30 to $3.50.  This guidance excludes the discontinued operations of Midwest-CBK and Boca Java, ViSalus equity incentive charges and an expected charge for restructuring related to PartyLite's North American operations.  This guidance is the same as prior guidance as sales and earnings growth at ViSalus are expected to offset lower results at PartyLite.  The change in fiscal year end reported earlier today is expected to have an insignificant impact on normalized earnings per share.

The 2011 guidance on a reported basis is $1.65 to $1.85 and compares to prior reported earnings per share guidance of $2.23 – $2.43.  This guidance includes a loss from discontinued operations of $1.00, which is higher than previous guidance of $0.80 due to higher January 2011 losses from the Midwest-CBK and Boca Java businesses.  The January 2011 losses now impact 2011 earnings guidance due to the change in the Company's fiscal year end.  The ViSalus equity incentive charge of $0.50 is higher than previous guidance of $0.27 due to strong performance by ViSalus.  This guidance also includes $0.15 per share expected for PartyLite restructuring. 

Management also updated its expectations for cash flow from operations for 2011 to approximately $35 million versus prior guidance of $45 million, reflecting the settlement of various income tax audits.  Capital spending is anticipated to be approximately $7 million for 2011.

Blyth, Inc., headquartered in Greenwich, CT, USA, is a multi-channel company primarily focused on direct selling.  We design and market home fragrance products and decorative accessories, as well as weight management products, nutritional supplements and energy drink mixes.  These products are sold through the home party plan method of direct selling and through network marketing, respectively. The Company also designs and markets household convenience items and personalized gifts through the catalog/internet channel, as well as tabletop lighting and chafing fuel for the 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 consumers in the catalog/Internet channel under the As We Change®, Miles Kimball®, Exposures®, Walter Drake® and Easy Comforts®, 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.