CBK, Midwest, & Others to Form New Company

The board of directors of Blyth Inc., Greenwich, CT, agreed to spin off the company’s Wholesale Group to Blyth shareholders. The group includes CBK, Midwest, and Colonial Candle in North America, and Kaemingk, Edelman, and Euro Decor in Europe. The president of the Wholesale Group, Bruce Crain, will be chief executive of the new company; other officers will be Stephen Kosmalski, group president of the North American division, and Jeff Carr, group president of Europe. “A tax-free spin-off of the Wholesale segment provides a unique opportunity to allow each of the Wholesale Group and Blyth’s remaining businesses to realize their full potential by developing senior management teams whose sole focus will be the specific opportunities associated with their respective distribution channels,” said Blyth chief executive Robert Goergen. Revenues of the new company in fiscal 2006 are expected to be $700 million. The spin-off, planned to be completed in the second quarter of fiscal 2006, will provide one share of the new company for every three shares of Blyth Inc. common stock.