Furniture Today,
Holliman points to soft business conditions, weakening orders

ST. LOUIS — Furniture Brands International expects to report a loss in the third quarter and softer sales than in the comparable period a year earlier, Chairman and CEO Mickey Holliman said today.

“When we issued our second quarter results in July, we warned of a softening business environment and weakening order flow, and since then we have seen those trends continue,” he said.

“We now expect our net sales for the quarter to be down approximately 12%, and we now expect our net earnings per diluted common share to be in the range of a loss of 19 cents to a loss of 23 cents. This includes the effect of 22 cents in restructuring, asset impairment and severance charges,” Holliman said.

Furniture Brands will report results for the quarter Oct. 31, he said.

The company is the parent of furniture manufacturers and importers Lane, Broyhill, Thomasville, Henredon, Drexel Heritage and Maitland-Smith.