Ethan Allen sales fall 33.8%
By Jay McIntosh -- Furniture Today, November 2, 2009
DANBURY, Conn. — Ethan Allen reported a $13.6 million loss in its fiscal first quarter ended Sept. 30 as its sales plunged 33.8%.
The loss, which amounted to 47 cents per share, included $9.3 million in transition, restructuring and impairment charges for plant consolidation moves it announced earlier.
In the 2008 quarter, the manufacturer and retailer had posted a profit of $7.4 million, including a $1.6 million restructuring benefit from the sale of properties.
Excluding the effects of the charges in both quarters and tax valuation allowances, the company said its loss per share was 20 cents in the latest quarter, compared with positive EPS of 22 cents a year ago.
Same-store delivered sales at Ethan Allen design centers were down 35.3% from a year earlier, the company said.
Farooq Kathwari, chairman and CEO, said the business downturn “has enabled us to reposition our business in all major areas. We have consolidated our U.S. manufacturing and logistics to make it more efficient while we have reduced our cost structure in all areas of our enterprise during the last year. We have now started to selectively increase our associates both at manufacturing and retail.”
He said the company is focusing on increasing its cash position and implementing “initiatives to help us increase sales.” He noted that Ethan Allen increased its cash by $19.5 million in the quarter to $72.5 million.
He added that while sales are still down, there are positive signs.
“While we have increased our written backlog 19% during the quarter and reduced the decline in booked written orders by half to 19.5% in the quarter from a 38% decline from January to June 2009, we still remain cautious for the near term,” Kathwari said. But he added that the company is “well positioned as the economy improves to grow our sales and profitability.”
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