GREENWICH, Conn., Feb. 16, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- Blyth, Inc. (NYSE:BTH), a leading designer and marketer of home decor and home fragrance products, today announced that it has named Jane F. Casey Vice President and Treasurer. Most recently, Ms. Casey was Vice President, Organization & Management Development. She has also had management responsibility for Human Resources, Investor Relations and Risk Management during her nine years at Blyth.
The Company also announced that Tyler P. Schuessler has been named Vice President, Organizational Development & Investor Relations. Ms. Schuessler joined Blyth in 2000 as Manager, Investor Relations and most recently held the position of Director, Corporate Communications & Investor Relations.
Commenting on the appointments, Robert B. Goergen, Blyth's Chairman and CEO, said, "Last year, I formed the Office of the Chairman, which includes Blyth's three operating segment presidents and its Chief Financial Officer. This allowed me to step back from day to day operations and increase my focus on corporate strategy, financial stewardship for Blyth's shareholders and people development.
"Jane Casey has been an integral part of Blyth's senior management team, and as Treasurer will drive numerous financial initiatives to deploy effectively Blyth's $100 million plus annual free cash flow. Tyler Schuessler has led Blyth's investor relations function and internal and external communications during a period of significant growth. In her new role, she will have additional responsibility for assisting operating management in developing Blyth's human capital. The Office of the Chairman and I will work in close partnership with these executives and will benefit from the perspective and energy that they bring to our Company."
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(TM), 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.