GREENWICH, Conn., Aug. 6, 2002 (PRIMEZONE) -- Blyth, Inc. (NYSE:BTH), a leader in the candles, home fragrance and giftware industry, today announced the appointment of Frank P. Mineo as Senior Vice President. Mr. Mineo, President, PartyLite Worldwide, oversees the largest division of Blyth's Candles & Home Fragrance segment.
Mr. Mineo joined PartyLite in 1994 as Worldwide Vice President of Finance & Administration. Thereafter, he held a variety of roles with increased responsibilities, including President, PartyLite Europe, prior to his appointment as Executive Vice President, PartyLite Worldwide in 1999. The following year, Mr. Mineo was named Vice President of Blyth and President, PartyLite Worldwide. He is a graduate of Boston College and received his MBA from Babson College.
PartyLite has enjoyed dramatic growth since Blyth acquired it in 1990, at which time the then-U.S. based party plan direct sales company had sales of approximately $7 million. In 1992, PartyLite expanded into Canada, and the Company's European launch occurred in Germany in 1994. More recently, the company entered Mexico and Australia. Certain candle industry leaders credit PartyLite for the rapid growth of fragranced candles in the U.S. market in the 1990s. Today, PartyLite markets its products through over 51,000 independent sales consultants across North America, Europe and Australia. PartyLite Worldwide sales represent over half of Blyth's sales in the Candles & Home Fragrance segment, which was approximately $1.0 billion in the Company's fiscal year 2002.
Commenting on the appointment, Robert B. Goergen, Chairman of the Board and CEO, said, "Naming Frank Mineo Senior Vice President of Blyth recognizes both PartyLite's importance to the Company and its global leadership in the direct-to-consumer business. Reversing the sales decline in the past year is just one of the many achievements that Frank's leadership has brought to PartyLite since his appointment as President in 2000. He has filled key senior management positions with industry leaders, bringing renewed energy and focus to sales, marketing and new product development. Moreover, Frank's stewardship of PartyLite's Extranet efforts has delivered important business building tools for PartyLite's independent sales consultants, who today process approximately 60% of PartyLite's North American show orders via the Internet."
Blyth, Inc., headquartered in Greenwich, CT, USA, designs, manufactures and markets an extensive line of candles and home fragrance products including scented candles, potpourri and other fragranced products, as well as tabletop illumination products and portable heating fuel, and markets a broad range of related candle accessories. Its products are sold direct to the consumer under the PartyLite(r) brand, to retailers in the mid-tier and premium retail channels under the Colonial Candle of Cape Cod(r), Colonial at HOME(r), Kate's(tm) and Carolina(r) brands, in the mass retail channel under the Florasense(r), Ambria(r) and FilterMate(r) brands and to the Foodservice industry under the Ambria(r), Sterno(r) and HandyFuel(r) brand names. In Europe, its products are also sold under the Gies, Ambria, Carolina, Colonial and Wax Lyrical brands. Blyth also markets a broad range of Creative Expressions products, including home decor and giftware products under the CBK(tm) brand, seasonal products under the Midwest of Cannon Falls(r) and JMC Impact(tm) brands, and paper-related products under the Jeanmarie(r) brand. Net Sales for the twelve months ended April 30, 2002 totaled approximately $1,199 million.
Blyth, Inc. can be found on the Internet at www.blythinc.com. PartyLite can be found on the Internet at www.partylite.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 which are other than statements of historical facts. Actual results could differ materially due to various factors, including the current slowing of the United States economy as a whole and the continuing 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 products, risks associated with our ability to recruit new independent sales consultants, our dependence on key management personnel, risks associated with the sourcing of raw materials for our products, competition in terms of price and new product introductions, and other factors described in this press release, in the Company's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended April 30, 2002 and in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended January 31, 2002.