Jennifer Convertibles posts $1.9 million loss in quarter

Furniture retailer's sales slide by 21.5%

Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, January 13, 2009

WOODBURY, N.Y. — Jennifer Convertibles reported a net loss of about $1.9 million or 26 cents per share in its fiscal first quarter as the poor business climate continued to put pressure on sales.

The loss for the 13 weeks ended Nov. 29 was greater than the $505,000 loss posted in the comparable period a year ago. Revenue fell 21.5% to $26.7 million and same-store sales decreased 24.2%.

Jennifer said its operating margin from continuing operations was 29% for the quarter, down 1 percentage point from a year ago, while selling, general and administrative expenses increased to 35.2% of revenue from 31.1% a year earlier.

The company's two-store Ashley Furniture HomeStores division remained a bright spot for the Woodbury, N.Y.-based retailer, generating more than 10% of the company's revenues and operating profits for the period.

Jennifer CEO Harley Greenfield called first quarter results disappointing, but added that "we still believe that we have the right model in place that will allow us to quickly show substantial improvement in our results when the economy begins to improve."

Greenfield also said that Jennifer had modified certain warehousing and management agreements, which should save the company more than $100,000 a month.

"We continue to provide incredible values for customers producing good margins even under this extremely difficult retail environment," he said.

The retailer has 172 stores including 156 Jennifer Convertibles, 14 Jennifer Leather and the two Ashley stores. Twenty-two of the Jennifer stores are licensed units and the others are company-owned. During the quarter, the company closed one store in Lansing, Ill.