American Furniture Mfg. sales decline 12.5% in 3Q

Larry Thomas -- Furniture Today, November 8, 2012

ECRU, Miss. — Promotional upholstery producer American Furniture Mfg. reported a sales decline of 12.5% in the quarter ended Sept. 30, but the company slashed its operating loss to $581,000.

In a Securities and Exchange Commission filing by publicly traded parent company Compass Diversified Holdings, the company said the most recent quarterly loss was down from an operating loss of $2.51 million in the same quarter last year.

American reported sales of $20.7 million in the most recent quarter, down from $23.7 million in the same quarter in 2011.

According to the regulatory filing, American's stationary and motion upholstery sales fell in the most recent quarter, but recliner sales rose by about $1 million due to a recliner promotion by one of its largest retail customers.

The filing said the sales decrease was "the result of a soft current retail environment and increased competition on our promotional furniture category."

"We expect that sales for the remainder of the fiscal year will continue to be challenged by the current retail environment," Compass said in the filing.

For the nine months ended Sept. 30, American had sales of $72.4 million, down 12.9% from $83.1 million in the first nine months of 2011.

The nine-month operating loss totaled $1.03 million, down from a loss of $12.1 million in the first nine months of last year. The 2011 period included a $5.9 million goodwill writedown and $1.8 million in asset impairment charges.