Furniture Brands International Inc. Chairman and CEO W.G. “Mickey” Holliman said Thursday that because

business conditions in the fourth quarter have continued to soften since October, the firm plans to “aggressively” discount selected slow-moving products.

In a prepared statement, Holliman said, “To remain competitive in this promotional and highly competitive environment we are discounting aggressively on selected slow-moving products. In addition, we are taking downtime in several domestic manufacturing facilities.

“We now expect net sales in the fourth quarter to be down in the mid-single digits versus the year ago period. We are also revising our earnings forecast range to reflect a net loss of 6 cents per share to a net loss of 2 cents per share.”

When the company released its third-quarter results Oct. 25, Holliman forecast fourth-quarter net sales to be flat versus last year’s quarter and net earnings per diluted common share to be in the 11 cents to 15 cents range.

Earlier this month the furniture manufacturer’s Broyhill Furniture Industries subsidiary announced plans to close its case goods manufacturing facility located in Lenoir, N.C., by February 2014.

Furniture Brands will report results for the fourth quarter of 2013 Jan. 31, 2014.

St. Louis-based Furniture Brands International Inc. (NYSE: FBN – News) manufactures furniture under the Thomasville, Henredon, Drexel Heritage, Maitland-Smith, Broyhill and Lane brands.

Published December 8, 2013 by the St. Louis Business Journal