BDO: Orders rise 3 months in row
By Furniture Today Staff -- Furniture Today, September 5, 2005
High Point — New orders in May were up 5% from the same month a year ago at U.S. residential furniture factories, according to BDO Seidman.
It was the third consecutive month of rising orders after slight declines in January and February, the accounting and consulting firm said. Some 61% of the participants in BDO's monthly factory survey reported an increase in orders in May, up from 53% reporting gains in April, 45% in March and 38% in February.
Factory shipments in May also were up 5% from a year earlier, the same gain as in April.
For the year to date, orders were up 3% from the first five months of 2004 and shipments were up 4%.
Ken Smith, national director of BDO's Furniture Industry Services, said in the company's monthly Furniture Insights newsletter that some participants in the factory survey "are reporting fairly significant increases." But he added, "In our talks with people in the industry, the 'average' answer is that business is OK."
He said BDO's projection for the rest of the year "indicates somewhat slower growth, but that compares to better results in the last half of 2004 than the first half."
| Factory orders, shipments in May | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| In billions of dollars | |||
| Change from | |||
| April '05 | May '04 | ||
| Source: BDO Seidman | |||
| Orders | $2.320 | 1% | 5% |
| Shipments | 2.287 | -2% | 5% |
| Order backlog | 2.237 | — | -1% |
| January–May | Change from 2004 | ||
| Orders | $11.024 | 3% | |
| Shipments | 11.239 | 4% | |
