Furniture Brands 4Q profit drops |
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Thu, 01 Feb 2007 00:07
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ST. LOUIS (AFX) - Furniture Brands International Inc. said Wednesday its fourth-quarter profit dropped 88 percent, due to soft retail conditions that forced the company to discount some products.Quarterly earnings fell to $2.1 million, or 4 cents per share, from $17.1 million, or 34 cents per share, in the prior-year quarter. Excluding 4 cents per share of restructuring, asset impairment and severance charges and interest rate expense, the company earned 6 cents per share in the latest quarter.Despite the company's profit drop, earnings bested internal and Wall Street predictions. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial predicted profit of 5 cents per share, and in December, the company forecast a loss of 2 cents to 6 cents per share.Revenue slipped 1 percent to $586.5 million from $593.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2005, ahead of Wall Street's $561.9 million estimate.W. G. Holliman, chairman and chief executive officer, said business conditions were difficult during the quarter in every division.'As the quarter progressed, retail conditions materially softened. In an effort to continue with our original plan of inventory reduction, we promoted aggressively and took additional discounts on selected slower moving products,' Holliman said. 'We also scheduled additional downtime in our domestic facilities.'Earnings for the year fell 10 percent to $55.1 million, or $1.13 per share, from $61.4 million, or $1.18 per share, in 2005. Revenue rose 1 percent to $2.42 billion from $2.39 billion in the prior year.Furniture Brands shares rose 3 cents to $16.70 in electronic aftermarket activity, having closed up 12 cents at $16.67 on the New York Stock Exchange.Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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