Natuzzi reports 12.4% sales gain, but larger loss
U.S. pricing pressure hurts results
Larry Thomas -- Furniture Today, May 30, 2008
SANTERAMO IN COLLE, Italy — Upholstery major Natuzzi said first-quarter sales were 12.4% ahead of last year’s comparable period, but the company’s net loss increased nearly fivefold.
The company said the loss was due largely to pricing pressure in the U.S. market, as well as the sharp decline in the value of U.S. dollar against currencies of the countries where Natuzzi makes product for U.S. consumers.
Pasquale Natuzzi, chairman and CEO, said the furniture industry in the U.S. “is still struggling to come out of the worst crisis of the last decades.”
“Operating results were further burdened by the unsatisfactory performance of our Brazilian manufacturing plants, whose competitiveness has not only been curbed by the devaluation of the U.S. dollar … but also by the low productivity of the plants,” Natuzzi added.
Net sales for the quarter ended March 31 totaled 172.8 million euros, up from 153.8 million euros in last year’s first quarter.
The most recent quarter’s net loss came to 23.4 million euros or 0.43 euro per share. In the same period last year, the loss was 4.7 million euros or 0.09 euro per share.
Sales of the company’s Natuzzi-branded products rose 7.5% to 87 million euros during the quarter, while sales of the Italsofa brand jumped 21.3% to 66.7 million euros. Expressed in U.S. dollars based on the average exchange rates for the periods, first-quarter sales were up 28.6% from a year earlier to $259.3 million and the net loss was $35.1 million or 65 cents per share, compared with a loss of $6.2 million or 12 cents per share in the 2007 quarter.
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Natuzzi sales up 12.4%
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