GREENWICH, Conn., Oct. 1, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Blyth, Inc. (NYSE:BTH), a leading designer and marketer of home fragrance and home decor products, today announced the retirement of approximately $25 million remaining from the original offering of $150 million senior notes. The notes were repaid with cash from operations. The notes were issued in September 1999 with a term of 10 years at a 7.90% coupon rate. The Company has $100 million of 10-year senior notes outstanding with a 5.5% percent coupon rate maturing in 2013.
Robert B. Goergen, Blyth's Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, commented, "We repaid over 80% of this debt prior to maturity, demonstrating Blyth's strong ability to generate cash. Our balance sheet remains healthy, and year-to-date cash flow is significantly improved over the past several years despite a very difficult economic environment. Today's final $25 million repayment marks an important milestone for Blyth, and we are pleased with our overall positive net financial position."
Blyth, Inc., headquartered in Greenwich, CT, USA, is a Home Expressions company that markets an extensive array of home fragrance products, decorative accessories, seasonal decorations and household convenience items. The Company sells its products through multiple channels of distribution, including the home party plan method of direct selling and one-on-one direct selling, as well as through the wholesale and catalog/Internet channels. Blyth also markets tabletop lighting and chafing fuel for the Away From Home or 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(R), Two Sisters Gourmet(R) by PartyLite and ViSalus Sciences(R) brands, to retailers in the premium and specialty retail channels under the Colonial Candle(R), CBK(R) and Seasons of Cannon Falls(R) brands, to retailers in the mass retail channel under the Sterno(R) brand, to consumers in the catalog/Internet channel under the As We Change(R), Miles Kimball(R), Exposures(R), Walter Drake(R), The Home Marketplace(R), Easy Comforts(R) and Boca Java(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 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 Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended January 31, 2009.