STANLEYTOWN, Va. — Stanley Furniture’s sales dipped 2.2% in the fourth quarter but rose 9.1% for the full year to $333.6 million.

Fourth-quarter earnings for the case goods manufacturer and importer were up 2.7% from the same quarter a year earlier to $5.8 million, while earnings for the year rose 11.7% to $23.2 million.

Offsetting the favorable impact of higher sales, the company said, were increases in costs of raw materials, compensation, energy, freight and warehousing, plus the U.S. tariffs imposed on wood bedroom furniture imported from China.

“While industry sales trends were positive in 2012, we believe the consistent execution of our strategy has resulted in market share gains that drove most of our sales growth,” said Jeff Scheffer, president and CEO.
He said the fourth-quarter sales decline ended a string of 14 consecutive quarters of year-over-year sales growth.

For 2013, the company is forecasting sales of $340 million to $350 million, a gain of 2% to 5%, and earnings per share in the $1.84 to $1.90 range, compared with $1.77 for 2012.

For the first quarter, Stanley is looking at sales in the $81 million to $84 million range, ranging from a 2% decrease to a 1% increase from a year ago. It projects earnings of 43 to 46 cents per share, compared with 43 cents a year earlier.