Blyth Inc. absorbed a loss in its second fiscal quarter thanks to the impaired value of a nutritional supplement company it acquired a year ago.
Through the PartyLite brand and others, Greenwich-based Blyth administers a network of agents who sell home goods and foodstuffs by organizing parties for acquaintances to try out products.
In its second fiscal quarter ending July 31, Blyth lost $16 million as sales dropped 16 percent to $199 million.
Blyth”™s results included a $16.5 million charge against earnings to account for impairments in the company”™s previous investment in ViSalus Sciences Inc., a Troy, Mich.-based seller of vitamins, nutritional supplements and weight-management products. Blyth acquired a 44 percent stake in ViSalus last October for $13 million with a commitment to eventually acquire an ownership stake, and loaned ViSalus nearly $3 million this past July.
In fiscal 2009, Blyth also spent more than $2 million to acquire As We Change, an Oshkosh, Wis.-based catalog and online retailer selling apparel, household and health products to women.
