GREENWICH, Conn., March 8, 2001 (PRIMEZONE) -- Blyth, Inc. (NYSE:BTH) today announced that it has named Glenn Evans to the position of Vice President of Global Sourcing. The appointment builds upon a strategic initiative to leverage the Company's sourcing resources and worldwide capabilities that was launched in 1999. Mr. Evans replaces James Kopp, who, as previously announced, was appointed President of Blyth's Candle Corporation of America business unit.
Keys to Blyth's Global Sourcing strategy are superior service levels from suppliers to ensure continued product availability for the Company's customers, the maintenance of strict quality control standards and the ability to leverage cost savings. Effective supply chain management of the purchase of raw materials and finished products, as well as logistics and transportation, are critical factors for Blyth's continued growth in both its fragranced and non-fragranced businesses.
Commenting on the latest addition to the management team, Robert B. Goergen, Blyth's Chairman of the Board and CEO, said, "Glenn brings a rich background of knowledge in both outsourced manufacturing and materials sourcing for demanding multinational sales organizations across many markets and channels of distribution. His years of experience in the fragrance, giftware, tabletop and home decorative products and markets, including direct selling, will be a valuable asset as we grow and further enhance the profitability of our businesses. Moreover, Glenn's leadership in implementing technological and supply chain leverage will bring additional insight as we move towards linking our vendors via Intranet and Extranet applications to enhance customer service and increase cost savings."
Mr. Evans was most recently at Coty, Inc. where, as Vice President, Asia Operations, his responsibilities included a wide variety of sourcing management roles. Prior to his work at Coty, Mr. Evans directed several sourcing units and activities for Avon, including Global Sourcing in Asia, as well as materials management and regional purchasing and logistics.
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 environmental fragrance products 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), Kate's Original Recipe(tm) and Carolina Designs(r) brands and in the mass retail channel under the Ambria(tm), Florasense(r) and FilterMate(r) brands. In Europe, its products are also sold under the Gies, Liljeholmens and Colony brands. Blyth also markets a broad range of non-fragranced products, including decorative seasonal products for the consumer market, under the Jeanmarie(r) and Impact(tm) brand names, and portable heating fuel and tabletop illumination products for the hotel, restaurant and catering trade, under the Sterno(r) and Handy Fuel(r) brand names. Net Sales for the twelve months ended October 31, 2000 totaled $1,155,758,000.
Blyth, Inc. can be found on the Internet at www.blythinc.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 risk of a continuing weakness of the retail environment, the effects of our restructuring, the risk of maintaining the Company's growth rate, the Company's ability to respond to increased product demand, the risks (including foreign currency fluctuations) associated with international sales and foreign products, the risks of being able to recruit new independent sales consultants, dependence on key management personnel, 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 October 31, 2000 and in the Company's Annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended January 31, 2000.