Furniture, fireplace maker HNI Corp. profits down 27 percent

DES MOINES, Iowa Quarterly earnings are down for Muscatine-based H-N-I Corporation.

The company, which makes office furniture and fireplaces, says profits fell 27 percent on lower-than expected orders for furniture and lower demand for fireplaces because of the soft housing market.

Profits for its first quarter were 20-point-seven (m) million dollars, or 43 cents a share. That compares to 28-point-five (m) million, or 55 cents a share, a year ago.

H-N-I reported sales of 609 (m) million dollars, down five-point-six percent from last year.

Wall Street analysts predicted a profit of 45 cents a share on sales of almost 643 (m) million dollars.

H-N-I’s divisions include The Hon Company, Allsteel, The Gunlocke Company and Hearth and Home Technologies.