GREENWICH, Conn., Jan. 25, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- Blyth, Inc. (NYSE:BTH), a leading designer and marketer of home decor and home fragrance products, today announced that its founder, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, Robert B. Goergen, has entered into a pre-arranged plan to sell a small portion of his holdings in Blyth, Inc. each month, commencing in the first quarter of fiscal year 2006, which begins on February 1, 2005. Under the terms of the plan, adopted in accordance with Rule 10b5-1 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Blyth, Inc.'s policies regarding stock transactions, Mr. Goergen will sell up to 35,000 shares each month subject to a pre-determined price in order to achieve greater portfolio diversity as he continues his estate planning. If Blyth stock is not trading at or above the pre-determined price, the shares covered by the plan will not be sold and the unsold shares will be carried forward for sale in future months. The plan expires on January 31, 2006. Mr. Goergen, who currently owns approximately 11 million shares, or 27% of Blyth's stock, will continue to own more than 25% of Blyth's outstanding shares after the completion of the plan.
Rule 10b5-1 allows corporate officers and directors to adopt written, pre-arranged stock trading plans for selling specified amounts of stock. The plans may be entered into only when the officer or director is not in possession of material, non-public information and may be used to diversify their investment portfolios gradually over an extended period of time to reduce potential market impact. Mr. Goergen's transactions under his Rule 10b5-1 plan will be publicly disclosed with the SEC through Form 4 filings.
Mr. Goergen, 66, said, "As we work to plan for Blyth's future, the importance of ensuring an orderly transition in shareholder ownership cannot be overlooked, particularly given the magnitude of my family's holdings. It is in the best interest of all shareholders to broaden Blyth's investor base over time. My plans have not changed, and I will remain an active part of Blyth for years to come."
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), 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) 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), Kaemingk(R), Edelman(R) and Euro-Decor(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 effects of our restructuring, 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, in the Company's Form 10-Q for the quarter ended October 31, 2004 and in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended January 31, 2004.