DWR, Tempur-Pedic, Aaron on best small company list
Larry Thomas -- Furniture Today, June 27, 2005
New York — Three furniture industry entities, including Top 100 retailer Design Within Reach, are on this year's list of "100 Best Small Companies" published by Business Week magazine.
Joining the San Francisco-based retailer on the prestigious list are specialty bedding producer Tempur-Pedic and Aaron Rents, the Atlanta-based chain of rent-to-own and rent-to-rent stores.
Design Within Reach, which is No. 98 on Furniture/Today's latest Top 100 list, was No. 8 on the Business Week list. The retailer had revenues of $120.6 million last year, including an estimated $63 million in sales to residential customers.
According to data compiled by Business Week, in the past three years DWR had an average annual sales increase of 43.9% and an average annual profit increase of 120.5%.
Tempur-Pedic, which produces visco-elastic foam mattresses, pillows and related items, had total revenues of $754.1 million last year and was 62nd on the Business Week list. According to the magazine, the company had a three-year average sales increase of 47.1% and a three-year annual profit increase of 88.6%.
According to Furniture/Today estimates, Tempur-Pedic is the fifth-largest bedding manufacturer and had bedding sales of $320 million in 2004, a 70.2% increase from 2003.
Aaron Rents, which was No. 100 on the Business Week list, had revenues of $977.8 million last year. The magazine said the company had an average annual sales increase of 19.8% and an average profit increase of 59% over three years.
To qualify for the list, companies had to have annual sales of $50 million to $1.5 billion, a market value of at least $25 million, a current stock price of at least $5, and be actively traded.
