Furniture Brands Offers Dividend, Repurchases Stock

January 26, 2006  by in UnCategorized   

By Home Furnishings Business in on January 2006 The largest home furnishings manufacturer in the country reported late Thursday, just one day after announcing fourth quarter earnings 33 percent lower than the previous year, its plans to repurchase more of its own stock.

Furniture Brands International Inc. authorized the repurchase of $50 million of its outstanding common stock over the next year. This comes in addition to an existing plan to repurchase $100 million of the stock.

The furniture manufacturer -- known for its Broyhill, Lane, Thomasville, Henredon, Drexel Heritage and Maitland-Smith brand names -- also said it will increase the quarterly dividend by 6.7 percent, to $0.16 per share payable Feb. 24 to shareholders of record as of Feb. 6.

Furniture Brands reported fourth-quarter earnings this week that were less than the previous year, but higher than expectations. The profits for 2005 decreased by $30.2 million from the year before.