Don’t blame direct marketing for the dropoff in Blyth Inc.’s first-quarter sales. While the home décor, household item and fragrance marketer saw a 6% sales drop, from $214.7 million a year ago to $201.5 million, its catalog and Internet revenue was up between the two quarters.
During the quarter, the company’s net earnings were $4.5 million, up from $2.4 million a year ago. The most recent quarter’s results include a $700,000 tax credit.
The company attributed a first-quarter sales boost in its catalog and Internet sales, from $32.4 million a year ago to $33.7 million, to catalog circulation increases in certain of the firm’s Miles Kimball line catalogs. But this channel took an operating loss of $2.3 million, compared with $1.8 million in first-quarter 2009.
But a year ago, the unit’s fortunes included a non-cash gain $1.9 million related to the termination of the Miles Kimball pension plan. Excluding that gain, first-quarter 2009’s operating loss would have been $3.7 million, compared to the $2.3 million seen this year.
During the quarter, Miles Kimball reported higher sales and improved operating margins.
Among the company’s other divisions, its direct selling operations (which include one-to-one sales and hosted parties) generated $139.9 million, down from $148.5 million a year ago. The company claims 21,000 independent sales consultants in the U.S, compared with 25,000 in first-quarter 2009.
Operating profit for this channel was $13.1 million, compared with $13.8 million, with the falloff in profitability mitigated by tighter promotional spending, controls on manufacturing productivity and currency gains from its international operations.
Wholesale sales fell 17% to $27.9 million versus $33.8 million a year ago. First quarter operating loss in the wholesale segment was $3.7 million compared to last year’s operating loss of $6.2 million, which the company attributed in part to “rigorous” expense management, according to a company statement.
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