— Furniture Today,
DANBURY, Conn. — Ethan Allen is forecasting sales below last year’s level and Wall Street analysts’ estimates for its


first quarter, Chairman and CEO Farooq Kathwari said in a statement today.

He said the retailer and manufacturer/importer currently anticipates sales for the quarter ending Sept. 30 in the range of $240 million to $245 million. That compares with $251.3 million in the comparable 2012 quarter, and is below the average estimate of analysts, which Thomson Financial said was $263.8 million.

“As previously indicated, sales in recent months have slowed as consumer confidence has remained weak,” Kathwari said. “In addition, we find ourselves up against tough comparable results for the prior-year quarter, during which time we experienced a 9% increase in sales and a 15% increase in comparable retail written sales.”

He also noted the year-ago quarter was when Ethan Allen launched its initiative to reduce lead times in filling orders.

“The faster backlog turnover afforded by this initiative reduces the forward visibility of delivered sales, subjecting our business to more volatility as demand levels fluctuate,” Kathwari said.

Ethan Allen will host an investor conference at company headquarters here tomorrow morning starting at 10:15 a.m. Management presentations and a question-and-answer session will be Webcast live on the company’s site, www.ethanallen.com/investors.