Blyth, Inc. Announces Special Cash Dividend of $1.00 Per Share

GREENWICH, Conn., Jan. 19  /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Blyth, Inc. (NYSE: BTH), a leading multi-channel designer and marketer of home fragrance products, home decor products and household convenience items, today announced that its Board of Directors has declared a special cash dividend of $1.00 per share on the Company's common stock, for a total dividend payment of approximately $8.9 million.  The special dividend will be payable to shareholders of record as of February 2, 2010 and will be paid on February 16, 2010.

The special dividend declared today is in addition to regular semi-annual dividends paid this fiscal year ending January 31, 2010 totaling $0.20 per share on the Company's common stock.  Therefore, Blyth will declare total dividends this fiscal year of $1.20 per share, or approximately $10.7 million.

Robert B. Goergen, Blyth's Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, commented, "This year we took a conservative approach to our regular dividend payments in spite of our strong cash position and balance sheet.  We have now reevaluated our dividend payment based on Blyth's cash flow, the retirement of approximately $25 million of 7.9% senior notes last October and general economic conditions. The Board of Directors believes dividends represent an important element in support of our goal to deliver long-term returns to our shareholders. "

Mr. Goergen continued, "The Company has no plans at this time to change its regular semi-annual dividend rate.  However, we will continue to evaluate our dividend payment based on the Company's financial position, earnings outlook and the general macroeconomic environment."

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®, Two Sisters Gourmet® by PartyLite and ViSalus Sciences® brands, to retailers in the premium and specialty retail channels under the Colonial Candle®, CBK® and Seasons of Cannon Falls® brands, to retailers in the mass retail channel under the  Sterno® brand, to consumers in the catalog/Internet channel under the As We Change®, Miles Kimball®, Exposures®, Walter Drake®, The Home Marketplace®, Easy Comforts® and Boca Java® brands, and to the Foodservice industry under the Sterno®, Ambria® and HandyFuel® brands.  In Europe, Blyth's products are also sold under the PartyLite brand.

Blyth, Inc. may be found on the Internet at http://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. 

DATASOURCE: Blyth, Inc.



CONTACT:  Robert H. Barghaus, Chief Financial Officer, [phone],

ext. 6668 or Tyler P. Schuessler, Vice President, Investor Relations and

Organizational Development, [phone], ext. 6643



Web Site:  http://www.blyth.com/ 

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