Furniture Today,
MONROE, Mich. — La-Z-Boy said Thursday it will close two
upholstery factories and a rough mill lumber operation. The facilities are in North Carolina and Mississippi.
As part of the major restructuring, three upholstery operations in the company’s Kincaid division in Taylorsville, N.C., will be combined into a single factory.
The changes, along with the elimination of an undisclosed number of corporate positions, will result in the loss of about 500 jobs.
La-Z-Boy said its upholstery factory in Iuka, Miss., will close in May, followed by the shutdown of its Lincolnton, N.C., upholstery plant in July.
The company’s rough mill operation in North Wilkesboro, N.C., will be combined with a similar operation in Hudson, N.C., but no timetable was given.
The Lincolnton factory produces high-leg recliners and occasional chairs under the La-Z-Boy brand. Its production will be shifted to factories in Newton, Miss., Siloam Spring, Ark., and Dayton, Tenn.
The Iuka plant produces sofas, loveseats and upholstered chairs for the company’s Bauhaus division. Its production will be moved to Bauhaus plants in Saltillo and Sherman, Miss.
La-Z-Boy said it will take a pretax charge of $9 million to $10 million, or 11 cents to 12 cents per share, to cover costs associated with the restructuring. Most of the charges will be incurred in the fourth quarter of its fiscal year, which ends in April. The remainder will be assessed in the first quarter of the next fiscal year.
