GREENWICH, Conn., Dec. 14, 2000 -- Blyth, Inc. (NYSE:BTH) announced today that its Board of Directors has authorized an increase of up to 1 million shares in the Company's Common Stock repurchase program. As of November 30, 2000, the Company had approximately 47.1 million shares outstanding.
The Blyth stock repurchase program was initiated by the Board of Directors in September, 1998. The initial authorization was increased in May, 1999, and again in March, 2000. The Company is currently authorized to repurchase up to 3 million shares of its Common Stock in open market or negotiated transactions. Today's increase brings the cumulative total authorization to 4 million shares.
As of today, the Company has repurchased approximately 2.4 million shares at a cost of approximately $57.0 million since the program began in 1998. After giving effect to those repurchases, and to the additional authorization approved by the Board of Directors today, 1.6 million shares remain available for repurchase under the total authorization.
Robert B. Goergen, Chairman & CEO, said, "Extending our share repurchase program furthers our belief that Blyth's business fundamentals are solid, our prospects for long-term growth are strong and the use of funds to make the investment represents enhanced value for our shareholders. We will continue to repurchase shares over an extended period of time, with the specific timing dependent on price, market conditions and other factors, such as shares issued under the employee stock option plan." He continued to say, "We are pleased that our strong cash position allows us to make these share repurchases while continuing to invest in the growth of our business."
Blyth, Inc., headquartered in Greenwich, 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 and decorative seasonal products. Its products are sold in the United States under various brand names, including Colonial Candle of Cape Cod(r), PartyLite(r), Kate's Original Recipe(tm), Carolina Designs(r), Ambria(tm), Florasense(r), Jeanmarie(r) and FilterMate(r) and in Europe under the Gies, Liljeholmens and Colony brands. It is also a leading producer of portable heating fuel products sold 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 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.