Select Comfort toasts success
David Perry -- Furniture Today, November 11, 2002
Minneapolis — Suppliers Day at airbed producer and retailer Select Comfort took on a festive air as the company celebrated its gains in the marketplace.
Select Comfort reported its fifth consecutive profitable quarter a few days before company executives met here with suppliers. The company had pro forma net income of $3.5 million in its third quarter ended Sept. 28 on sales of $85.1 million, a 33% increase over the year-earlier quarter.
Bill McLaughlin, chief executive officer, thanked the company's suppliers for sticking with Select Comfort in its challenging times.
He called 2002 a year of "profitable growth" and said the company plans to "fuel the phenomenon" of its patented Sleep Number bed next year.
He encouraged the suppliers to learn more about Select Comfort and to help the company create more competitive advantages in the marketplace.
McLaughlin likened Select Comfort's progress to a mountain climbing expedition. "We have arrived at base camp," he said. Steeper climbs with greater challenges lie ahead, he said, but the company has plenty of potential to push to new heights.
The company kicked off its meeting with suppliers with an evening at a restaurant and bowling alley at the Mall of America here. Suppliers and Select Comfort executives enjoyed hamburgers with all the fixin's and then squared off in a spirited competition on the bowling lanes.
