Share this on

Sealy earns $2.6 million profit in fourth quarter

Sales increase by 1.9%

Larry Thomas -- Furniture Today, January 14, 2010

ARCHDALE, N.C. — Aided by an uptick in its domestic business, bedding major Sealy recorded a profit in its fourth fiscal quarter on a 1.9% increase in sales.

The company said it had net income of $2.6 million or 2 cents per share for the quarter ended Nov. 29. That reversed a net loss of $41.4 million or 45 cents per share in the fourth quarter of the previous year - a period that included one-time charges of more than $27 million.

Sales for the most recent quarter totaled $332.1 million, up from $325.8 million in last year's fourth quarter.

The company said wholesale domestic net sales, which exclude third-party sales from Sealy's components factories, jumped 7.3% to $227.7 million. Unit volume was up 7.9%, while the average unit selling price slid 0.6%.

"We are pleased with the results produced by our intense focus on the aspects of our business that we can control," said Larry Rogers, president and CEO, noting that the sales figures represent the first year-over-year increase since the fourth quarter of 2007.

"Our successful rollout of the new Stearns & Foster line reinforced our commitment to developing innovative products and was an important driver in our profitable market share gains, and in strengthening our partnerships with our retailers and suppliers," he added.

Gross margin for the quarter was 39.5%, some 3.3 percentage point higher than last year's fourth quarter. Rogers said he was especially pleased that gross margin on the company's domestic business was 41.5%, a jump of 3.7 percentage points.

For the fiscal year ended Nov. 29, sales totaled $1.29 billion, a decrease of 13.9% from the previous year's $1.5 billion.

Net income for the year was $13.5 million or 10 cents per share. In the previous year, the company had a net loss of $3.8 million or 4 cents per share.

Share this on

Sealy posts $2.6M profit

Jan 18, 2010

Also by this author

Also by Larry Thomas

Featured Company

Wright Labels

Bill and Tom Wright founded Wright of Thomasville in 1961 on the idea that printing was a creative medium and the belief that "a promise made is a promise kept." The Wright brothers focused their attention on providing exceptional printing for the... more